The chairman and CEO of Starbucks, has controversially admitted that the best way to make a cup of coffee - is not his brand's way. Howard Schultz says he uses a Bodum French press - a coffee presser brand - which results in 'the best cup of coffee known to mankind.'

I don’t pretend to be a coffee connoisseur but all this argle-bargle about “the best cup of coffee in the world” reeks of yuppie snobbism. And as always when someone is putting on airs, there’s someone around willing to take their money to let them do it. Starbucks and all the rest of those coffee chains have built empires on the vanity of gullible people.

I got used to drinking any kind of coffee I could find at night in hospitals, and now I'm so used to drinking ‘mud’, that if a spoon doesn't stand up in it I think it's not strong enough coffee. Starbucks is one of the few commercial brands that is strong enough - although I don't think it's great (generally bitter). A lot of people love Dunkin Donuts coffee, but it's too ‘watery’ for my taste.

STBX does not burn their beans. Most coffee is roasted to one pop STBX roasts till two, Pete’s till three. If you had ever had a cup made with actual burned beans you would know the difference.
Personally I think most Americans don’t know how to brew a good cup of coffee, they use to few beans in ratio to water.

17
posted on 04/17/2012 5:37:45 AM PDT
by svcw
(If one living cell on another planet is life, why isn't it life in the womb?)

It’s been a while since I posted (and the prices are higher since the original post) Jackie Masons take on Starbucks.....

You want coffee in a coffee shop, thats 60 cents. But at Starbucks, if its Cafe Latte: $3.50. Cafe Creamier: $4.50. Caffe Suisse: $9.50. For each French word, another four dollars. Why does a little cream in coffee make it worth $3.50?

Go into any coffee shop; theyll give you all the cream you want until youre blue in the face. Forty million people are walking around in coffee shops with jars of cream: Heres all the cream you want! And its still 60 cents. You know why? Because its called coffee.

You want cinnamon in your coffee? Ask for cinnamon in a coffee shop; theyll give you all the cinnamon you want. Do they ask you for more money because its cinnamon? Its the same price for cinnamon in your coffee as for coffee without cinnamon - 60 cents, thats it.

But not in Starbucks. Over there, its Cinnamonnier - $9.50. You want a refill in a regular coffee shop, theyll give you all the refills you want until you drop dead. You can come in when youre 27 and keep drinking coffee until youre 98. And theyll start begging you: Here, you want more coffee, you want more, you want more?

Do you know that you cant get a refill at Starbucks? A refill is a dollar fifty. two refills, $4.50. Three refills, $19.50 So, for four cups of coffee - $35.00. And its burnt coffee. Its burnt coffee at Starbucks, lets be honest about it. If you get burnt coffee in a coffee shop, you call a cop. You say, Its the bottom of the pot. I dont drink from the bottom of the pot. But when its burnt at Starbucks, they say, Oh, its a blend. Its a special bean from Argentina..... The bean is in your head.

And therere no chairs in those Starbucks. Instead, they have these high stools. You ever see these stools? You havent been on a chair that high since you were two. Seventy-three year old Jews are climbing and climbing to get to the top of the chair. And when they get to the top, they cant even drink the coffee because there are 12 people around one little table, and everybodys saying, Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me..... Then they cant get off the chair. Old Jews are begging Gentiles, Mister, could you get me off this?

Do you remember what a cafeteria was? In poor neighborhoods all over this country, they went to a cafeteria because there were no waiters and no service. And so poor people could save money on a tip. Cafeterias didnt have regular tables or chairs either. They gave coffee to you in a cardboard cup. So because of that you paid less for the coffee. You got less, so you paid less.

Its all the same at Starbucks - no chairs, no service, a cardboard cup for your coffee - except in Starbucks, the less you get, the more it costs. By the time they give you nothing, its worth four times much.

Am I exaggerating? Did you ever try to buy a cookie in Starbucks? Buy a cookie in a regular coffee shop. You can tear down a building with that cookie. And the whole cookie is 60 cents. At Starbucks, youre going to have to hire a detective to find that cookie, and its $9.50. And you cant put butter on it because they want extra. Do you know that if you buy a bagel, you pay extra for cream cheese in Starbucks?

Cream cheese, another 60 Cents. A knife to put it on, 32 cents. If it reaches the bagel, 48 cents. That bagel costs you $312.

And they dont give you the butter or the cream cheese. They dont give it to you. They tell you where it is. Oh, you want butter? Its over there. Cream cheese? Over here. Sugar? Sugar is here. Now you become your own waiter. You walk around with a tray. Ill take the cookie. Wheres the butter? The butters here. Wheres the cream cheese?

The cream cheese is there. You walked around for an hour and a half selecting items, and then the guy at the cash register has a glass in front of him that says Tips.

Youre waiting on tables for an hour, and you owe him money? Then theres a sign that says please clean it up when youre finished.

They dont give you a waiter or a busboy. Now youve become the janitor. Now you have to start cleaning up the place. Old Jews are walking around cleaning up Starbucks. Oh, hes got dirt too? Wait, Ill clean this up. They clean up the place for an hour and a half.

If I said to you, I have a great idea for a business. Ill open a whole new type of a coffee shop. A whole new type. Instead of 60 cents for coffee Ill charge $2.50, $3.50, $4.50, and $5.50. Not only that, Ill have no tables, no chairs, no water, no busboy, and youll clean it up for 20 minutes after youre finished. Would you say to me, Thats the greatest idea for a business I ever heard! We can open a chain of these all over the world! No, you would put me right into a sanitarium.

Starbucks can only get away with it because they have French titles for everything, bastard sons-of-a-bitches. And I say this with the highest respect, because I dont like to talk about people.

My best cup of coffee is not made from Starbuck beans. I use Peet’s French Roast...2 scoops in a tall metal insulated cup, pour boiled water and let steep for 4 minutes...pour over a melita coffee filter. Ohhhh baby, strong but not bitter.

Best coffee evah...and it means I almost never pay for a commercial cup of coffee anywhere. I’m a cheap a$$ and refuse to pay $2 or more for a cup of weak/bitter/burnt coffee. And I certainly won’t pay $4 for a latte.

Yes...let me repeat myslef...I’m cheap, but I do enjoy a great cup of coffee.

Can't remember exactly where I heard it, but I once heard the beauty of coffee is that in a world of uncertainty, where you're faced with hundreds of critical decisions every day, where you're guessing and second-guessing those decisions and the outcomes, you KNOW with 100% certainty how you want YOUR coffee!

Obviously, how you want your coffee is a personal preference. There is no such thing as a "perfect" cup of coffee that would please everyone.

20
posted on 04/17/2012 5:42:35 AM PDT
by cincinnati65
(Romney is not MY candidate for President in 2012.)

Really? A 20 oz cup at STBX is $1.90 -$2.10 depending on what part of the country you are in. The condiment bar had all the super, cream you want as well as coco powder, nutmeg, vanilla, and cinnamon. A refill is 50-75 cents for that same 20 oz cup.

22
posted on 04/17/2012 5:44:17 AM PDT
by svcw
(If one living cell on another planet is life, why isn't it life in the womb?)

Please... STBX over-roasts. I get my coffee from a local, mom & pop type place that roasts on-site - the difference between STBX crap and what I get is like night and day. I know the difference between good and bad. STBX is B A D bad.

I once bought a coffee roaster at Zabars and learned how to roast green beans. It was a huge mess and produced so much smoke I thought the neighbors would cal 911, but when quenched and put into a French press, those fresh-roasted beans would make the best coffee ever. It only took a day or two before the roasted beans lost their edge, and even a hour or so after roasting some of the delicate flavors were gone, but nothing since has even come close to truly fresh-roasted coffee.

Okay, I'll admit it. I'm a coffee snob. A French press will make the best coffee and the best coffee is 100% Kona.

Ditto on the French Press. One thing I'll say about Kona, is that at least you know that certain minimum standards are met in the harvesting that I wouldn't necessarily expect from Papua New Guinea or Indonesia.

That said, thare is no best coffee, just as there is no best wine. Kona is smooth, but with certain pastries a good Kenyan will best it. (No Obama Kenyan/Hawaiian jokes please) For something with a stronger bite Jamaican Blue or even a good Sumatra might be called for. There's a reason why superior coffee houses carry dozens of different (unflavored) coffees.

I would like to pass a law stating that anyone selling Kona "blend" must make the word "blend" 50% larger than the word Kona, and that the percentage of Kona be listed immediately after in the same same size typeface as the word Kona.

31
posted on 04/17/2012 5:56:10 AM PDT
by Dr. Sivana
(There is no salvation in politics.)

I don’t think they burn their beans, but they definitely prefer the more full (almost french) roast. It does give that stronger, bolder flavor.

The bad thing about it is that the lighter roasts tend to showcase the different flavors of the different beans. That’s why I generally roast my own beans. The best supplier of green beans on the internet, imho, is sweetmarias.com. I have zero interest in them and live across the nation from them.

32
posted on 04/17/2012 5:56:25 AM PDT
by xzins
(Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Pray Continued Victory for our Troops Still in Afghan!)

Conservatives dumping all over Starbucks to me is a little bit like liberals dumping all over Walmart. Both companies probably read the negative reviews and cry all the way to the bank.

Starbucks is obviously doing something right - call it marketing - call it stupid people - call it anything you want - but if you believe in free markets then obviously there are millions of people every day who spend their dollars at starbucks that could have gone elsewhere but didn’t.

It only took a day or two before the roasted beans lost their edge, and even a hour or so after roasting some of the delicate flavors were gone, but nothing since has even come close to truly fresh-roasted coffee.

I envy you.

36
posted on 04/17/2012 6:02:11 AM PDT
by Dr. Sivana
(There is no salvation in politics.)

A dear old lady at church grew up in Panama on a finca. She told me she never combed her own hair until she married and left home. They roasted coffee beans every morning on a metal plate over the fire, and THAT, she said, was coffee.

39
posted on 04/17/2012 6:03:58 AM PDT
by bboop
(Without justice, what else is the State but a great band of robbers? St. Augustine)

It came out a couple of years ago. It is easy to use, cleaner than a French Press, Brings out better flavors than a French press and it uses small filters that just pop into the trash. It is supper cool!

Well, I like starbucks burnt taste and all...what I DON’T have time for is the silly french press...The most time I will wait on a cup is to make expresso...but not in the am...can’t wait for that either.
When I get up I want it made and ready. Me want coffee...me want NOW.

>>>I admit I am not a fine connoisseur of coffee but I have never liked any cup of coffee from Starbucks.

Because they burn their beans.

********************

“Charbucks” as someone cruelly branded them. They burn their beans because they have compromised the quality of their coffee. Very dark roasts hide a mediocre coffee’s weakness because it adds a rich toasted flavor without really losing anything. A coffee buyer and cupper I know described their coffee as ‘high end mediocre’, which is a fairly objective summary.

When Starbuck’s started out they really did offer top notch specialty coffees, as do many independent roasters and coffee shops. This is usually defined as the top 3% or so of coffees, for distinctive, complex and pleasantly flavorful profiles. When they became the mass market McDonald’s of coffee shops however, sheer volume combined with the corporate obsession with consistency meant they -had- to move their coffee towards a more average, more generic blend. No way around it, really, and they’ve done what they could, but their decision was for quantity over quality.

For a truly outstanding cup of specialty coffee, go to a small scale independent shop, preferably a roaster - and do indeed get a French press or other single cup style of preparation of a single origin coffee, *IF* you like coffee. Most people want sugared confections that simulate cocoa rather than a really good cup of black coffee, which is another way to hide second tier (or worse) coffees.

Don’t be surprised to pay over $3 - 5 for a cup or press pot of good stuff. Average prices only pay for average coffees. Its just that simple.

48
posted on 04/17/2012 6:08:40 AM PDT
by Psalm 144
("I'm not willing to light my hair on fire to try and get support. I am who I am." - Willard M Romney)

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